As I clunked the double clutch into gear and got up to speed, I realized why truckers are such bad-asses. All of a sudden I was cruising down the highway in a vehicle the size of my apartment that was filled with ten other people. Carloads of kids would pass me and honk, and I felt really cool, like I was Neal Cassidy. I was having so much fun that it did not realize that the miles were rolling away, but the gas gauge was not going down. 

What I did notice was when the engine started sputtering, and I had to jump up and down on the accelerator to pump the last drops of gas into the engine. The gauge had been working the day before, but was broken now, and we were stuck on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. Luckily, Samantha was utterly prepared for this, as it is her bus, and she had an extra special AAA card plus a cell phone. So help was on the way. and all we had to do was wait. 

We were quite a sight for all the passers by, though: a freakily graffitied school bus and a bunch of raggedy looking kids hanging out on the side of the road. The neatest thing happened when this man pulled up in his pickup truck and asked if we needed help. He was older, about 50, and could not have looked more normal. "I was just coming home from church, and you kids looked like you could use a hand." 

We assured him that help was on the way, but thanked him all the same. At times, we try so hard to be different from "Babylon" around us that we lose sight of the fact that good, kind people are everywhere. This guy had to step out of his comfort zone a bit to offer us help, yet he did it anyway. This man was kinder and more loving than lots of people I've met on tour. 

I guess it's just good to remember that it's what is in your heart that really matters. It's not what you drive, the clothes you wear, how long your hair is, or even the music you listen to.

 - Ben Shooner